President Laphonza Butler Speaks On Quality Jobs

In an interview with The Aspen Institute, SEIU 2015 President Laphonza Butler, talks about the importance of sustaining dignity and respect for all working people and the immediate need for a robust long term care infrastructure as the demand for quality care is steadily on the rise.

Check out a snippet of the interview below:

Describe your organization’s work and how it’s connected to job quality.

For nine years, I have served as president of Service Employees International Union Local 2015 (SEIU Local 2015) in California, representing more than 350,000 home care, skilled nursing facility, and assisted living center workers. SEIU Local 2015 is the largest long-term care union in California and the second largest SEIU Local nationwide.

With 46 million Americans older than 65, and an average of 10,000 baby boomers hitting that milestone every day, the demand for long-term care workers is growing quickly. At the same time, long-term care workers face numerous challenges at work. Our caregiving workforce is underpaid, lacks access to workplace benefits, and has few opportunities to improve skills through training. The National Employment Law Project reports, for instance, that nearly one in five home care workers are paid less than the minimum wage and that 80 percent work unpaid overtime. Furthermore, home care workers rarely have the potential to come together to improve their working conditions because they often work in isolation, in private homes, and on temporary assignments.